Did you know that the Pirates of the Caribbean, one of the most iconic theme park attractions of all time, was originally going to be just a walkthrough wax museum at Disneyland? How lame would that have been? Thankfully, during the upgrades to the park for its new New Orleans Square, Walt Disney got caught up in the 1964 New York World's Fair where the animatronic characters the Disney parks are famous for were developed.

As a result, the concept for the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction was radically evolved into what became one of the park's most popular attractions. And let's not forget, had Disneyland pursued its original concept and the pirates never became a hit, we might have been stuck with a Johnny Depp Country Bear Jamboree film instead. [YouTube via Boing Boing]